The European Union plans to conduct at least six audits of the agri-food supply chain in the South American countries that make up the Mercosur trading bloc in 2026.

Two of these audits will be carried out in Brazil, senior officials in the EU have said. The other Mercosur countries are Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.

President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen is in South America today (Friday, January 16) and tomorrow to formally sign the EU Mercosur Partnership Agreement.

It follows a vote in the EU where the majority of member states voted in favour of the deal at EU Council level.

The deal would mean a maximum limit (quota) will be put on the amount of agri-food products imported from Mercosur that benefit from lower tariffs, most notably 99,000t for beef.

In exchange, the EU will be able to export goods to the Mercosur countries at much more favourable tariffs, such as machinery and cars, but also agri-food produce such as olive oil and dairy.

Audits

Last week it emerged that 128kg of Brazilian beef that contained a banned growth promoting hormone had previously entered the Irish market.

On December 12, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) was notified by the Food Standards Agency Northern Ireland that a consignment of beef, with an expiry date of October 31, 2025, from animals that had been treated with oestradiol, had been distributed from Northern Ireland to three food businesses in the Republic of Ireland in September.

The implicated beef had been imported from Brazil. Environmental health officers in the Health Service Executive (HSE) undertook checks at the three food businesses and the FSAI said that none of the implicated meat remains on the market.

The administration of oestradiol, which can be used as a growth promoting hormone, is not allowed in animals intended for the food chain in the EU.

A senior EU official has said that "minimal infractions of SPS (Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures) procedures means our controls work".

Another official from the EU has highlighted that there are two levels of control: 1) at the border with customs agents; 2) audits of third countries (i.e., countries outside the EU), such as Brazil.

In the past two years, nine such audits have been carried out by EU inspectors of agri-food supply chains and six more are planned for Mercosur over the next year.

The official said that countries such as Brazil, which rely on exports so heavily, have a reputation to uphold internationally and will do everything they can to ensure it meets standards to continue exporting.

One senior official said that there are over two million bovine livestock farms in Brazil but as little as 234 farms are cleared to export to the EU, showing that stringent criteria is imposed.

Also, a trade deal is not a full protection for a country; should products from a particular country continuously demonstrate shortcomings which are not addressed immediately by collective measures, there is potential to 'de-list' them from a trade agreement.